Aria's messy life
by Plltwtvd
Summary: When Aria has her heart broken, will she be able to move on? This story is about her finding new love and at the same time finding herself.
1. Chapter 1

It was a rainy Friday afternoon when Aria got a text message from Ezra that told her to meet him at his apartment.

"So, what's up?" she asked Ezra as she closed the door of his apartment and set her bag on his kitchen table.

"We need to talk", Ezra said sounding nervous. He was pacing the room back and forth, whilst every once in a while running his hands through his hair.

"That doesn't sound too good..." Aria started to have an uneasy feeling.

"I think we have to break up." At this point he had stopped the pacing and was standing in front of Aria with a sad look on his face.

"Where is this coming from?" Aria asked in disbelief.

"I got a job as an english teacher-"

"But that's great Ezra!" she cut him off.

"Aria, the problem is, it's in Sacramento", Ezra stated sadly. Aria stayed quiet.

"Please say something", Ezra begged.

"I gotta go", Aria said abruptly. Next thing you know, she was running into her car and speeding away.

How could he just drop everything in one second and not even ask her opinion? Aria thought. They had so much history together and he just broke up with her without even second-guessing it! Unbelievable. If he decides to end things like this, then he can't expect her to want to stay in speaking terms with him. He lost his chance, Aria thought.

Aria was in her room, lying on her bed with her pyjamas on, but she just couldn't fall asleep. How pathetic was she? Sulking in her bed on a Friday evening, while everyone else was probably out partying. Just then she realized something. She had forgotten her bag at Ezra's! She couldn't go back there anymore, not after he had just broken up with her. She would not humble herself just for the sake of a few makeup products and a phone. She did have her wallet there though. Maybe she could just wait for Ezra to bring it to her… Just then she heard the doorbell ring downstairs. Oh no! It's probably Ezra! She couldn't handle this right now. Thankfully Aria heard Mike open the door and murmur something. Then she heard the door shut. Aria felt herself sigh in relief. But then all of a sudden she heard a knock on her door. No no no! This couldn't be happening. She couldn't believe Mike would let him in! Just as she was gonna go hide in her bathroom, she heard a voice:

"Can I come in Aria?" Emily said from behind the door.

"Emily! Why wouldn't you just come in?"

"I didn't wanna bother you if you were already sleeping or something." At this point Emily had opened the door and walked over to Aria's couch.

"So what are you doing here?" she asked as Emily set her bag on the floor and sat on the couch nervously.

"Hanna is out at some party and Spencer's studying for some exam she has, so I came here."

"So I'm your last choice?" Aria asked sarcastically.

"No! I didn't mean it like that. You just spend a lot of time with Ezra so-"

"Well not anymore."

"What do you mean?" Emily was confused.

"I mean, Ezra broke up with me today."

"HE DID WHAT?" Emily asked with shock.

"He got a teaching job that's in Sacramento."

"How does that mean your relationship is doomed?"

"I've been wondering the same thing exactly." Aria said with a sad look on her face.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know. No. I left my bag at Ezra's, and I can't deal with having to face him again."

"I can go get it." Emily offered with a reassuring look on her face.

"I can't ask you to do that."

"I want to, Aria. I'll go straight in the morning." Emily declared.

"Okay. Thanks." Aria said as she walked over to the couch. She held her hands out and hugged Emily, and without realizing it, tears started forming in her eyes. Emily noticed and hugged her tighter. After a while of them just hugging and Aria sniffling, Aria finally pulled away and asked:

"What did you wanna talk to me about?"

"It's really nothing." Emily said nervously.

"It must be something if you came here to talk about it in the first place. Come on. You can tell me anything."

"Okay, here's the thing. You know how Jason went away to New York a few years ago?"

"Yeah…"

"Well now he's back. And Alison is not so excited about it."

Aria's mouth dropped open from shock. Alison and Jason were never really in the best of terms. Anytime the girls were visiting Alison, if they ever saw Jason, he was always mad at Alison about something. However, Aria had developed a crush on Jason when she was fourteen. Jason was mysterious and always hanging out in his room. He had long light brown hair that went down to his shoulders. Ali always used to mock him for not cutting his hair, but secretly Aria had always liked his hair like that. No one, especially not Jason, knew about her crush. But she got over it when Jason went to study in New York that same year.

"Why is he back?" Aria questioned.

"I guess he's done with his studies and wanted to come back home for some unknown reason."

"So Alison's not happy about it?"

"Well you know that Alison and Jason's relationship has never been all sunshine and rainbows."

"When did he arrive?"

"Only a couple days ago, but Alison is already going mad."

"So what do you suppose we do about it?" Aria asked with suspicion.

"Alison can't live in the same house with Jason, and she has made that clear. She asked me if she could temporarily come live with me until Jason leaves, but my mom is under a lot of stress lately and I don't want to burden her with this."

"What are you suggesting? That Alison could come here?"

"Basically, yeah." Emily mumbled carefully.

"Why couldn't Ali just ask me herself?"

"Because she thinks she's moving to me and my mom's place. I haven't built up the courage to tell her it's not gonna happen, so I thought if I had an alternative option for her, she wouldn't be disappointed."

"Emily, I think you're overthinking this. You just have to be honest with her. I wouldn't mind her coming here, but she has to ask me herself." Aria said with compassion.

"Thanks Aria. You always know what to say." Emily said with a small smile on her face.

"Now can you get me my bag?" Aria asked seriously.

"Oh I see how it is. You had ulterior motives all along!" Emily yelled while bursting into laughter. And for the next few minutes Aria and Emily just sat on the couch laughing.

Ezra woke up the next morning to someone knocking on his door. He got up and opened the door. Behind it was Emily, one of Aria's friends. The one with long dark brown hair and brown eyes. She always had a varsity jacket on and sneakers. The opposite of Aria.

"You came to get Aria's bag I presume?" Ezra asked.

"Yeah", Emily answered nervously. She had never had a conversation with Ezra that didn't relate to homework or something else school related.

"I'll go get it", Ezra said.

As he brought Emily the bag, he asked with concern:

"How is Aria? Is she okay?"

"How do you think she is? You broke up with her. Of course she's not okay. Don't you think she would have come to get her bag herself if she were okay?"

Before Ezra could say anything, Emily had already grabbed the bag and walked away. The slamming of the door make him flinch. Ezra would have hoped to see Aria one more time before he left for Sacramento, but he guessed that wasn't in the books anymore.

Instead of sulking at home and desperately looking for leftovers from the fridge, Aria decided to go eat at the Apple rose grille instead. That way Emily could also bring her her bag. When she arrived at the cafe, she decided to already order a caesar salad. Her mom had given her some cash until she got her wallet back. She went to sit at a couch near the door, while she waited for her caesar salad. Just as she was about to call Emily, she heard someone yell:

"Finland!"

She looked over and saw Noel Kahn walking towards her. Somehow he had gotten it into his head that Aria had lived in Finland for a year, when actually she had lived in Iceland. Noel Kahn was the most popular guy is school. He played lacrosse with Aria's little brother Mike. He was wearing a white t-shirt, a black leather jacket and black jeans.

"Hey Noel", she greeted sounding uninterested.

"What's got you all down?"

"Men. You can't trust them. One minute they say they're in love with you and the next they're breaking up with you."

"You know not all men are like that." Noel winked.

"Shut up. I'm not in the mood for you and your flirting." Aria said coldly.

"Okay okay! I can see you're not in a very good mood right now, so maybe you wanna come to my party tonight? It might cheer you up."

"You don't have any ulterior motives here do you? 'Cause I'm not getting involved with anyone for a long time."

"Of course not! Why would you think that? It's not like you're special or something Montgomery."

Why thank you for your kind words." Aria snickered.

"My pleasure. Adios!" And with that Noel was out the door.

That was weird, she thought.

After she had gotten her salad, she checked her phone. One new message. It was a message was from Ella, Aria's mom, saying:

 _Remember to drop Mike off at lacrosse practice today!_

The lacrosse team sometimes had extra practices on Saturdays if they were preparing for a game. She checked what time it was. It was 12am, so she still had about 45 minutes before she had to get home. She would just have to reschedule with Emily.

"Mike! We gotta go!" Aria yelled from downstairs to Mike.

"Yeah I'll be down in a sec!" Mike yelled back.

"Well I'll be waiting in the car!"

Aria went into the yard and went into her moms blue Prius. Mike was already late for practice. Just as she was about to honk the car horn, she saw Mike running towards the car with his lacrosse outfit and bat.

"What's gonna be your excuse for being late?" she questioned Mike.

"I'll just say my sister was supposed to drop me off but she needed time to put her make-up on", Mike answered with a smirk on his face.

"Haha. Very funny", Aria said while driving out of the yard.

Aria pulled over beside the school and Mike got out.

"Pick me up at half past 2 o'clock", Mike said from the passenger seats window before running through the school yard towards the lacrosse field. Suddenly Aria's phone chimed. She looked at the screen and saw that there was a new text message from Emily. Emily had answered her about rescheduling.

 _When are you free? -Emily_

 _I have a few hours till Mike has to be picked up -Aria_

 _Okay, I'm at Ali's place right now so do you wanna come here? -Emily_

 _I guess. See you soon xx -Aria_

Emily was already waiting at the front porch of the Dilaurentis house when Aria drove into the yard. She had a familiar bag on her shoulder.

"How did it go?" Aria asked as she got out of the Prius.

"How did what go?"

"Well your encounter with my ex-boyfriend of course!" Aria exclaimed.

"Oh that." Emily looked down at her feet.

"What did he say?" Aria questioned.

"Nothing much, just about how he-"

"Hey Aria." Both Emily and Aria turned their heads towards the front door, where the sound had come from. It was Jason Dilaurentis.


	2. Chapter 2

Jason looked different. He had cut his hair short, but not too short. His wild hair struggled to stay still as it rested on his forehead, like he had woken up and not brushed it. He was leaning against the doorframe, looking intently at Aria, not even glancing at Emily. His eyes were emerald green. Aria had always loved his eyes. If you had to pick a persons best feature, Jason's would have to be his eyes.

After what felt like hours, Aria finally spoke up:

"Hey." Aria didn't know what else to say. She hadn't seen Jason for at least three years, so this was all a bit shocking for her.

"Where'd your pink hair go? I really liked it." Jason still had a serious look on his face.

"I grew up." Aria stated.

"Umm… Should I go inside?" Emily asked nervously. She looked very confused. There was clearly something going on between Jason and Aria, but Emily didn't know what and she didn't understand. She hadn't noticed anything three years ago, so what had happened that she had missed?

"No, it's fine. I was just leaving anyway." Aria said.

"But I thought-"

"We can talk later." And with that, Aria took her bag from Emily and ran to her car without looking back.

...

She didn't know why she did that. She was mad at Jason, but why? He hadn't done anything to hurt her. Ezra had hurt her, but she wasn't even mad at him. She should be, but for some reason she didn't feel anything for him. Sure she was a little sad, but somehow seeing Jason made all her feelings rise. Maybe she was unloading all her feelings she had for Ezra towards Jason. It wasn't right towards him, and she knew she had to go apologize for being so rude and unwelcoming. She was dreading it.

...

"What the hell Aria?!" Mike stormed into Aria's room with an angry look on his face.

"What are you so mad about?" Aria asked with confusion. Then she realized. She had forgotten to pick Mike up from lacrosse practice.

"Oh my god I'm _so sorry!_ I totally forgot!"

"I called you like a gazillion times! What world have you been in?" Mike asked furiously.

"I'm sorry I totally spaced out! How did you get home?"

"Noel dropped me off. But it doesn't change the fact that you forgot to pick me up!"

"I know, I know. I'm so sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?"

"You don't have anything I want, but Noel wants something." Mike had calmed down enough to smirk a little. Aria's eyes widened.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Noel wants to go on a date with you."

"Wait, _what?_ No way."

"Yes way."

"What do you get out of this?"

"He had to drop me off so he wants something, and this way I don't have to pay him anything." Mike was full-on smiling now.

"Wait, so you mean your friend would ask money from you for dropping you off? He's like super rich, he doesn't need money."

"Noel is not like your friends, it's different with us guys. We do favours and expect favours in return."

"This is ridiculous. I'm not going on a date with one of your smug friends. Not gonna happen."

"So I guess I'll just tell Ella about this and she'll most likely ground you." Mike was slowly walking away.

"Wait!" Aria yelled after him. Mike stopped his walking and turned around with a grin on his face.

"You'll do it?"

"Yeah I'll do it. But I have rules, and if he doesn't accept them, it's too bad for him then." Aria stated.

"Yeah yeah whatever." Mike shrugged and walked away.

Aria decided to go get some fresh air to clear her mind, and maybe at the same time go apologize to Jason. She ran downstairs and was just about to go out the door when she heard yelling from the living room. At first she thought someone was mad, but then when she listened harder, she heard Mike laughing. There was another male voice coming from the room, but it wasn't Byron (her dad). (Mike and Aria never called their parents mom or dad, since they had always been taught to call them by their real names for some reason.)

Aria decided to go check out what all the yelling was about, and as soon as she walked in she regretted it.

"I'm _so_ gonna beat you in this match!" Mike yelled.

"Nah mate. I am the master of Halo." Noel said. Then he noticed Aria at the door.

"Oh hey Aria. Wanna join us? You can be on my team."

"Umm no thanks. Have you been here this whole time?" Aria asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah I heard your whole argument from downstairs. I'm smug?" Noel asked looking offended but it was all fake.

"I can't believe you guys just assumed I'd agree right away like I've just been waiting for _Noel Kahn_ to ask me out. I'm not some pathetic love struck girl." Aria was flushed and had an angry look on her face.

"But you did agree." Mike noted.

"That's because you blackmailed me into it. It doesn't mean I'm happy about this. And you haven't heard my conditions."

"What are your conditions?" Noel asked her with intrigue.

"Firstly, you are not allowed to kiss me, not even on the cheek."

"Now that's just crazy." Noel objected.

"Hey can you guys get a room if you're gonna talk about something other than Halo?" Mike muttered with disinterest.

"Shall we Aria?" Noel smirked.

"I don't have time for this right now." Aria was preoccupied thinking about how she would have to go apologize to Jason. Before Noel could object, she walked out of the room biting her lip.

"Hey Aria!" Noel caught up with her.

"What now?"

"Are you coming to the party tonight?" He had a pleading puppy dog look on his face.

"You know you want to…" Noel had taken Aria's hands into his, tracing the pattern inside of her palm.

"What time?" Aria gave in. She figured that she needed to blow off some steam after the breakup. Noel's eyes lit up and you could see the excitement in his eyes. He tried to control himself though.

"Just come at around eight." He said casually, trying to gain back his composure.

"Okay then. Can you let go of my hands now?" Aria asked awkwardly.

"Oh right." Noel took his hands away slowly and winked at Aria.

"I expect you there Montgomery!" He yelled from afar, as he was walking back into the living room.

...

Aria had been driving around Rosewood for at least an hour, with no direction. She was supposed to go to the Dilaurentis house to apologize, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She wanted to clear things with Emily though. She had been rude to her, and it wasn't nice. Especially after the fact that Emily had went to Ezra's place to get her bag, and Aria had just ripped it out of her hands like it was nothing. She knows it must have been extremely awkward for Emily to see her english teacher without a vest on or in front of a classroom. Aria woke from her thoughts as she heard a car honk behind her. The lights had turned green, and people were getting mad at her for not moving. She turned the car towards the street where Emily lived in.

...

"I'm sorry, but Emily's not here right now. Do you want me to tell her you came by?" Mrs. Fields said at the door to the Fields's house.

"No, that's fine, I'll just call her. Do you know where she is?" Aria asked.

"She's staying at the Dilaurentis's. She's there so often it's like her second home nowadays." Mrs. Fields huffed.

"Yeah she's really close with Alison." Aria mumbled distraughtly.

"It seems that way. Well anyway, you have a good night!" Mrs. Fields exclaimed.

"Thank you Mrs. Fields, you too!" Aria answered as she started walking back to her car. The door to the house closed, and all that was left was the sound of the wind, humming in Aria's ear. As she was backing out of the yard, she dialed Emily's phone number and waited, but there was no answer. Maybe she was sleeping. But it was 7.30, so it would be very weird if Emily was already sleeping at this time. She couldn't just go home now, not if there was any chance of Emily being in trouble. She was going to have to go to the Dilaurentis house after all. Aria was definitely not excited about going back there, not after what had happened that day, but she knew she had to if she really cared about her friend's well being.

Rosewood was a small town, so everyone lived quite close by to each other. This meant it didn't take Aria very long to drive to her destination. The problem though, was getting out of the car. Aria must have sat in her car for at least twenty minutes, before she finally built up the courage to get up and walk to the door of the Dilaurentis house. She was just about to knock, when someone opened it. It was Jason and Alison's Grandma. Everyone called her Grandma D. She gained custody of Alison and Jason when their mother and father died in a car crash a few years back.

"Oh hello Aria! How are you? Haven't seen you around the house in a while." Grandma D smiled at Aria, clearly surprised by the sudden visit.

"I'm okay, I just came by to talk to Emily. I heard she's staying the night here."

"Yes she is! What a nice girl she is! She always gets up early in the morning to make breakfast for all of us. I've never really been a good cook, so she really is a blessing! Do you want to come inside? I can go get Emily for you." Grandma D gestured for Aria to come in.

"Thank you, that would be great." Aria answered kindly but with urgency. She stepped into the house and decided to wait close to the front door, not really coming all the way into the house. She saw Grandma D make her way to the steps that led to Alison's room upstairs. Aria took her phone out to check if she had any new messages, but then she heard footsteps again, which she assumed were Emily's, so she put her phone back into her bag.

"I'm so relieved you're okay! I was worried-" Aria exclaimed before she even saw Emily. But it wasn't Emily. It was Jason.

"Aria? What are you talking about?" Jason looked taken aback.

"Oh I'm sorry. I thought you were Em." Aria said with an embarrassed look on her face.

"I did want to talk to you too though. About today." Aria got serious.

"What about today?" Jason asked with curiosity.

"I was rude to you, and it was uncalled for. I'm sorry, I was mad at someone else and channelling it towards you was not cool."

"You were rude? I didn't even realize. I guess I'm just so used to Ali being so rude that you being rude isn't even rude in my head. But who were you mad at?" Jason asked with concern.

"My ex-boyfriend, he just broke up with me." Aria replied with disdain.

"I don't understand why anyone would ever want to break up with you. He didn't deserve you." Jason said with compassion.

"Thanks. That's very nice of you to say."

"Do you want to-"

"What are you doing here Ar?" Emily interrupted Jason. She was standing behind him.

"I wanted to apologize to you about today. I kinda just rushed off without even saying thank you to you for getting my bag."

"Oh, don't worry about it! I know you're in a fragile place and I get that you don't want to talk right after you got dumped." Emily waved her apology off.

"But remember that I'm here whenever you do need to talk. I can tell you that it was super awkward getting your bag, but I did say a piece of my mind to him about how he acted."

"Really? What did you say?" Aria looked surprised.

"It doesn't matter, but the point is that I have your back and I'm here for you."

"Emily! What's taking you so long?" Alison yelled from upstairs.

"I gotta go. See you on Monday?" Emily asked apologetically.

"Yeah of course!"

Emily ran back upstairs and Aria could hear Alison laughing.

"I wonder what's going on up there." Aria said with curiosity.

"I wonder the same thing every day." Jason replied with sarcasm.

Aria was just about to open the front door to leave when she felt Jason's hand on her shoulder.

"You can stay if you want to. I was just watching a movie if you want to join me." Jason looked intently into Aria's eyes.

"I actually have to get to a party." Aria recalled.

You could see the disappointment on Jason's face, but he tried to hide it.

"Oh ok. Another time then?"

"Yeah sure."

And with that, Aria left and drove home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Writer's note:**

 **I don't know if there is a separate place to put my own comments, but I'm gonna put it here since it is the easiest for me. Happy New Years everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been swamped with school work and also haven't had a lot of motivation. But anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

 **P.S. I do not own any of the PLL characters.**

...

"Hurry up Aria! We're gonna be late!"

Aria was in her walk-in closet, trying to figure out what to wear to Noel's party. It was already eight, but she knew that no one arrived early to those parties. Hanna had heard that she was going to the party, so she was getting ready with Aria.

"No one arrives on time to those things anyway Hanna." Aria mumbled.

"Of course I know that, but we still gotta go pick up the others. Can you believe that Spencer is spending her night studying for the S.A.T's?" She huffed. Hanna was putting her knee high boots on in Aria's room. She was wearing a skintight black velvet dress with matching hoop earrings. Her hair was in a high bun with a few loose curly strands at the front. Aria was wearing just her lingerie, trying to come to a decision about what dress she should wear.

"You know what? You are wearing this." Hanna walked into the closet and threw a gold sequin skater dress at her.

"Okay fine." Aria said reluctantly but got up to put the dress on.

"What's up Aria? You always know what to wear to every occasion." Hanna asked with concern.

"I'm still kind of coping with the break-up I guess…"

"Wait what?!" Hanna looked shocked.

"Emily didn't tell you?"

"No! She's spending all her time with Alison nowadays."

"Yeah I've noticed that too."

"But anyway, how are you?" Hanna asked with curiosity.

"I feel oddly calm about it. At first I was really mad, but now I guess I just feel sad. But lets not talk about this anymore, we have a party to get to!" Aria smiled and nudged Hanna.

"That's the spirit!"

...

By the time they got to Noel's house, it was already packed with people, inside and out of the house. The second they got there, Hanna had already gone to look for alcohol. Emily and Alison went straight to the photo booth, and so Aria was left there standing alone, seeing some random girl throw up on the grass next to her. She was considering just bailing, but then she heard someone yell:

"Aria!"

She could see Noel walking towards her from the house, clearly a little tipsy.

"I was starting to think you weren't gonna show." Noel was closer now.

"I might not stay long."

"What?! Unacceptable. Let me get you a drink." Noel took Aria by the hand and led her through the crowd and into the kitchen. He took a red cup and started pouring liquor into it.

"So what's new Montgomery?" Noel handed her the cup.

"Why are you so interested in me? I don't mean to be rude, but why now?" Aria asked and then regretted it.

"Nevermind." Aria started walking away in embarrassment.

"Wait. I get why you would ask that. I can be kind of a jerk sometimes and not really pay attention to people."

Aria had turned back around. She had a curious look on her face.

"I've noticed that you've changed somehow. Like you are more mature."

"Wow."

"Sorry! I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that you have some kind of confidence to you that I didn't seem to notice before."  
"It still sounds like you are insulting me."

"I'm sorry. I've never really been good with words."  
"It's okay." Aria looked at Noel, and for the first time she actually saw him. His eyes were ocean blue and he had a very defined jawline. His hair was dark brown, shaved from the sides but a dishevelled fringe at the front. His lips were quite thin and so when he smiled, his perfect white teeth shined.

"Do you want to dance?" She asked Noel. Noel was taken aback. Like he didn't expect her to want to dance with him.

"Sure." Noel took Aria's hand and led her into the living room, where there was music blasting from the speakers. Currently Beyoncé's "Crazy in love" was playing. They found a free space and Noel put his hands on her waist and started swaying to the music. Aria followed suit. She still had her in her hand, so she chugged it down and put it on the ground. It seemed to be vodka. Only after a few seconds the song suddenly changed to a more slow paced song. Noel pulled Aria closer to him and Aria rested her head on Noel's chest. Even with heels, Aria was still a lot shorter than him. Aria was in such a daze that at first she hadn't even noticed Hanna. After a second of processing, she realized what was happening. Hanna was pressed up against the wall in the living room, and the guy pressing up against her was definitely not Caleb, her boyfriend. Aria lifted her head off of Noel's chest and started walking with a fast pace towards Hanna.

"Hanna!" Aria yelled. The music was so loud that Aria couldn't even hear her own voice. The slow paced song had changed into some EDM song. As Aria got closer, she noticed that they were not there anymore.

"What's going on?" Noel asked. He had followed her with a look of confusion on his face.

"I just saw some guy trying to make out with Hanna. And now they disappeared."

"So?" Noel asked.

"Hanna has a boyfriend! She would never cheat on Caleb!" Aria was pacing back and forth, trying to wrap her head around this.

"Sorry, I didn't realize. Well, we can go check all of the bedrooms if they went there."

"Okay, lets go!"

...

After looking through every vacant bedroom, Aria was starting to lose hope.

"I'm really worried about her." Aria sat on the bed of the room where they were in.

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Yeah, she didn't pick up."

"I can think of one more place where they might have gone to. The indoor hot tub. But only a couple people have the keys to that room…"

"Well what are we waiting for?" Aria had gotten up off the bed and pushed Noel towards the door.

"I'm sure Hanna is fine."

"I hope so." Aria was fidgeting and biting her lower lip. She always did that when she was nervous.

They were now standing in front of the door that led to the hot tub. Noel took out his keys and put one of them into the lock and turned it. What Aria saw next shocked her. Hanna was in the hot tub, kissing Mike!

"Oh my god! MIKE!" Aria ran into the room and shoved Mike.

"What the hell Aria?!" Mike complained.

"I'm so sorry Aria! I should have told you sooner." Hanna was getting out of the hot tub, only wearing her bra and underwear.

"Sooner?! This is not the first time?" Aria was furious.

"No. After Caleb broke up with me a few weeks ago, I started hanging out with Mike, and one thing led to another…"

"You and Caleb are not together anymore?" Aria's mouth dropped.

"You were so happy in your own relationship that I didn't wanna make you feel bad." Hanna said apologetically.

"Wait, you have a boyfriend?" Noel asked.

"Hanna, I want you to tell me these kind of things. Just because I'm happy, doesn't mean that you aren't allowed to feel sad. And yes Noel, I had a boyfriend, but he broke up with me."

"I'm sorry it came out like this. I meant to tell you earlier."

"I need to get out of here to process this."

...

Aria had gone into a vacant bedroom that looked like it belonged to Noel. There were posters of Michael Jackson everywhere. On a desk there was a mens cologne that smelled distinctly of Noel. His bed was made neatly and his bedside table had nothing but a glass filled with water and a star wars coaster under it. There were a few comic books laying on the floor.

Aria quickly turned her head. She had heard the doorknob turn slowly. Noel creeped in.

"Are you okay?"

"What do you think? My best friend has a relationship with my brother. I don't think I'll ever be okay with this." Aria sighed and fell on the bed.

"I know that must suck. I'm not that close to my brother so I can't say I can relate."

"Well I'm not that close with Mike but Hanna is my best friend so I feel like she has betrayed my trust. Isn't there supposed to be some kind of code that you don't date your best friend's siblings?" Aria huffed.

Noel sat next to Aria and put his hand on her shoulder as a compassionate gesture. Aria let him. She chuckled.

"I hadn't pegged you to be a comic book reader."

"Well I am full of surprises."

"It seems to be that way."

Aria rested her head on Noel's arm. He noticed and smiled. The vodka had made her a little drowsy so she decided to lie down.

"Do you mind if I just take a little nap here?"

Noel laughed and nodded. He was about to get up to leave but Aria got hold of his shirt.

"Can you stay?" She gestured for him to lie down next to her.

Noel was surprised but then he realized she had had alcohol. He sat back down on the bed and Aria pulled him next to her. They were now spooning, with Aria slowly dozing off. Noel could hear the distant EDM music and laughter from the party below them slowly fading away as he also started to fall asleep.

...

Aria woke up feeling disoriented. Without even opening her eyes, she could feel she was not sleeping in her own bed. She could also feel someone's arm on top of her. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that it was Noel's room. Noel was still clearly sleeping, since his hand was really heavy to lift off.

Aria was going to sneak out, but then she heard Noel grunt. She stopped and slowly turned around. Noel was still sound asleep, he had just turned around. She quickly snuck out of the house and dialed Emily's number.

"Hey Aria. What's up?"

"Where are you? I need a ride."

...

"Have you been here the entire night?" Emily had driven next to Aria in the driveway of the Kahn house. She had a fresh face of makeup on and running clothes on.

"I guess I fell asleep on Noel's bed. Anyway, were you working out of something? You look like you're in an adidas ad."

"SAY WHAT?! You were in Noel Kahn's bed?" Emily had a shocked look on her face.

"Say that a little louder. I don't think everyone in the house heard you."

"I am just confused. How did that happen?"

"I don't know. I guess I was a little tipsy and I fell asleep on his bed. I don't think anything else happened though, since I was still wearing all my clothes when I woke up."

Aria opened the car door and hopped in.

"But how did you end up in his room in the first place?" Emily shifted gears and backed out of the driveway.

"I don't know Em. It's 8am in the morning. I need coffee to think." Aria grunted.

"Well I'll drop you off at home but you need to tell me everything later. Have you seen Hanna by the way? Ali and I left the party pretty early."  
Aria fell quiet. She had just remembered what she had seen the previous night.

"I don't know. Maybe she went home?" Aria lied.

"Yeah maybe."


	4. Chapter 4

Writer's note:

Soooo I'm back! It has been ages since I last updated wow. But summer vacation starts in a month so if I'm inspired then, I will post lots! Notice, IF! Not promising anything haha. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this new chapter :)

The minute Aria got back home, she went to sleep. She hadn't slept properly for a long time, since she spent so much time with Ezra when they were together, that he was all she could think about all day everyday. Usually after a break up, she would eat tons of ice cream and watch The Notebook a million times, but this time around she didn't want to do anything that would make the break up real. She had been with Ezra for so long that life without him felt unreal. She didn't know what to feel.

She woke up hours later, at around noon. She decided to go for a run to clear her head. She put on tight black running pants and a nike sports bra. It was really warm outside, so she didn't have the need to take a shirt or a coat with her. She grabbed a banana on her way out and put her ear plugs in both ears. The first kilometer went by walking and eating the banana. The next kilometer Aria was full on running, filled with energy. Music always got Aria motivated. She was listening to an empowering women playlist. It had all the iconic Taylor Swift and Beyoncé songs on it. Aria was running high speed with Single ladies playing through her earplugs, when suddenly she bumped straight into someone coming from the side. A moment later she is lying on the ground.

"Oh my god are you okay?!" Aria hears the familiar voice of Jason ask with concern.

Aria doesn't answer. She tries to mumble something, but everything is blurry and she can't seem to get any words out. By now Jason is hovering over Aria, trying to get a look if she has any bruises.

"Stay awake Aria. I'm going to call an ambulance." Jason says as he gets out his phone to call 911.

"Hello? My friend Aria fell to the ground and is losing consciousness and I don't know what to do." There's a moment of silence and then Jason lifts Aria's head up. Then he puts it back down and says into the phone: "There's no blood in sight." Another moment of silence.

"Okay thank you." Jason puts the phone down and into his pocket.

"Aria. The ambulance is coming as soon as possible. Try to stay awake for me." Jason says.

"mmhmmm…" Aria mumbles.

"Oh my god! What happened?" Ella asks in a panic as she runs into the emergency room and sees Jason sitting in one of the waiting chairs.

"Your daughter and I ran into each other on the street and she fell down. I called an ambulance and they came and took her here. They told me that if there is no visible blood, it could be a concussion, so they are going to keep her here for observation in case she gets internal bleeding, which would result in her dying if they don't notice it fast enough."

Jason answers with hurried breaths.

"She's going to die?!" Ella asks in shock.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to phrase it like that. There is a small risk of her dying, because she's in observation here. If she went home, the risk of her dying would be much bigger because we don't have the technology that the hospital does."

"Oh okay." Ella looks relieved but still worried.

"It's going to be okay." Jason reassures her.

Ella stays quiet and sits beside Jason in one of the chairs. There is a moment of silence, before Jason gets up. Ella turns her head upwards, confused at Jason's sudden movement.

"I guess I should leave since you're here now…" Jason says awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.

"You don't have to leave! I'm curious as to why you're back in town anyway. Sit down." Ella says with compassion and reassurance.

"Okay." Jason says. He sits back down and they start talking until they see a doctor walking towards them.

"Jason Dilaurentis?" The doctor asks.

"Yeah that's me." Jason replies with concern in his eyes.

"I'm Ella Montgomery, Aria's mom." Ella says to the doctor.

"Okay, well Aria is doing okay now and she can go home, as long as you keep a close eye on her incase of a concussion. You can go see her now if you want to." The doctor says.

"I can stay here if you want to see Aria alone." Jason says to Ella as the doctor walks away, already looking for the next person to give news to.

"Don't be ridiculous! You're coming too." Ella says.

Everything was blurry. Aria could see two figures looming over her. One of the figures was right above her, the other was farther away, leaning against the wall. Little by little Aria's vision became clearer. Much to her surprise, Jason was there. She would have thought he would have bailed and gone back home.

"Hey honey." Ella said as she noticed Aria's eyes open.

"Hey." Aria said in a raspy voice.

"Do you remember anything from today?" Ella asked.

"Yeah. I was on a run and then bumped into Jason and fell."

"I'm really sorry about that." Jason said sincerely. Aria had forgotten he was still there.

"It's okay. Really. It was my fault. I was going too fast."

"Don't say that. It was just as much my fault." Jason said as he walked closer.

"Well, let's not dwell on whose fault it was. The important thing is that both of you are okay now." Ella said.

"Yeah I guess so." Aria said.

"When am I getting out of here?" Aria asked.

"The doctors told me that you can go home but that we have to keep a close eye on you in case you have a concussion."

"Okay."

"Hey I have an idea. Jason, would you like to come over for dinner today? Byron is making his famous chili sin carne."

"Yeah I would love to. Isn't it chili con carne?"

"Yeah that is with meat but the vegetarian option is chili sin carne. Everyone else in our family is vegetarian except Mike. Mike cannot go without meat." Ella answered.

This whole time Aria was completely quiet. She felt weird having Jason come over, since that meant she had to spend time with him, which she found awkward. There was this weird chemistry between them that made her unable to think straight when she was around him. Aria was so in her thoughts that she didn't notice her mom leave the room and leave her alone with Jason. Jason had walked right up next to her.

"Where did Ella go?" Aria asked confused.

"Didn't you hear her? She went to sign your release form."

"Oh ok."

"How are you?" Jason asked with concern.

"Could be better."

"I am so sorry again." Jason said. As he said that, he rested his hand on her hand.

"Don't be. You didn't do anything on purpose. You would never hurt me on purpose, I know that." Aria said with compassion, even though she was extremely nervous since Jason had his hand on her. Jason saw that remark as an invitation and was leaning in just as Ella opened the door. Thankfully Ella didn't see anything.

"We can go now Aria." Ella said. She took Aria's blanket right off her and Aria screamed. She was totally caught off guard and felt Jason looking at her bare legs.

"MOM! You could have warned me! Do you want me to have a heart attack?"

"Calm down Aria." Ella chuckled.

It was six o'clock and the Montgomery's were getting ready for supper. Byron was preparing his chili, Ella was setting the table, Mike was in his room listening to music and Aria was trying to decide what dress to wear. Of course she didn't wear a dress every day for supper, but since they had a guest coming, she wanted to look nice. She was going through her dresses but she couldn't find anything. Finally once she had gone through every piece of clothing in her closet, she found a little black dress with a deep v-neck. It was just classy enough for dinner. She decided to go barefoot since it would have been too obvious that she wanted to make a good impression if she put high heels on.

She was putting on her hoop earrings just as the doorbell rang. She didn't want to seem too eager so she decided to still take her time until she got called down. After five minutes she heard the doorbell ring again. Who else did her parents invite? She was very curious so she decided to ditch her plan of waiting. Just as she had walked down the stairs she heard someone whistle. Oh no, Aria thought. She knew only one person that would do that, and that was Noel Kahn. This was going to be the dinner from hell.

"Why can't we even have a meat option? We have guests who eat meat too." Mike complained.

"We don't believe in supporting the meat industry Mike, and that includes buying it, even if we aren't the ones eating it."

"Whatever. Me and Noel are just gonna go eat out then. Let's go Noel." Mike got up and gestured for Noel to get up too. Noel didn't.

"I think I wanna taste this food. I am starving." Noel said apologetically to Mike.

"Okay, well it's settled then. Mike, you are staying to eat." Byron said just as he set the pan with food on the table.

Aria was sitting across from Jason and beside Noel. She really regretted sitting next to Noel, since he kept on touching Aria's thigh "accidentally".

"So, how are things with you Jason?" Byron asked.

"Good. I just came back from New York, where I studied for three years."

"What did you study?" Ella asked.

"Youth work. I want to help at-risk youths get on the right path. I had a lot of issues when I was younger and I don't want these kids to make the same mistakes as me."

Aria was impressed. She never knew Jason had had such a hard time when he was younger. She just always thought he partied a lot just for the fun on it. She had never thought he actually struggled with those things.

"That's amazing!" Ella exclaimed.

"Yeah. That really is." Aria said. For a moment Jason and Aria just stared into each others eyes. Their moment was cut short due to Noel dropping his glass of water while reaching for food.

"I'm so sorry!" Noel said.

"It's fine. Aria, would you get some paper towels?" Ella asked.

"Yeah sure."

"I'll come with you. After all, I was the one who spilled the water." Noel said.

Aria was walking to the kitchen with a fast pace, and Noel tried to keep up.

"Hey, can we talk for a sec?" Noel asked as he caught up with her.

"Yeah sure. What's up?" Aria asked nonchalantly.

"Why'd you rush off so fast today?"

Aria was reaching for the paper towels but they were too high on the shelf. Noel grabbed them with ease.

"I had to be somewhere." Aria mumbled.

"Okay, well I just wanted to say that I had a really nice time with you and I hope we can hang out again soon." Noel handed Aria the paper towels.

"Aria! What's taking you so long?" Ella yelled from the dining room.

"Coming!" Aria yelled back.

"Yeah, sure." Aria answered. She was confused because Noel seemed so different at the party, but now he was acting like he usually did when he was with Mike or other friends.

"Sweet." Noel started walking back to the dining area. Aria followed.

After everyone had eaten, Byron started clearing the table.

"No, let me." Jason said as he started collecting everyones dishes.

"Oh well that is very kind of you." Byron thanked him.

"Aria, could you help?" Ella gestured at her.

"Yeah of course."

Aria started collecting the glasses and headed for the kitchen. Jason followed with the plates.

"Hey so are you feeling any better?" Jason asked with concern.

"Yeah a lot better."

"That's good." Jason set the plates on the counter.

"I didn't know you like to run. We should go together at some point."

"Yeah I don't do it as often as I should though. I don't know if my parents will let me go too soon because of the accident but we'll see."

"It's a good way of relieving stress. It helps with my sobriety."

"That's really good. How long have you been sober for?" Aria asked as she started filling the dishwasher.

"A little over three years now. At some point I just hit rock bottom and it really brought me back to reality. My girlfriend helped me get sober and it really changed my life for the better."

Aria felt so stupid. Of course he has a girlfriend. Why wouldn't he?

"That's amazing. Anyway, better get back." Aria said trying not to show her disappointment.

She was about to turn back to the living room when she suddenly felt Jason's hand on her shoulder.

"Ex-girlfriend."

"Oh." Aria found herself smiling and leaning in to Jason. Then she realized that her family and Noel were in the room right next to them. She had to control herself. She leaned out and walked back to the living room blushing.


End file.
